Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Monday, September 21, 2015
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Hey how's that Public Public Engagement Committee Going? Are you Keeping the Public Engagement Public? Or are the Results Not Your Liking so You're Going to Keep the Engagement of the Public Private? After all a Municipal Oligarchy is Much Better than Openness and Due Process to the People Involved...
Btw having the Mayor appoint himself chair of a Standing Committee on Public Engagement just pollutes the process and causes skewed results - especially when the Mayor has proven to be biased.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Brookswood OCP Redux...
They are going to try and resurrect the Brookwood OCP. I'm sure the developers are pushing hard for this and are more than gently reminding members of our council of the money they gave to their campaigns or discussing their future support in some secret way...
Might I remind council that the 2014 input and findings are what caused such an uproar, a demonstration, a march, signs everywhere, bad provincial press, and multiple night marathon counsel meetings containing angry residents.
People were angry with the bate-and-switch techniques used in the planning process and the general dishonesty by withholding information and attempts at spin...
It is this dishonesty displayed during the planning process and the fact that the GNAC had direct access to the planner and was influencing the outcome that further aggravated residents causing them to act.
The resulting bias made the 2014 report unreliable and suspect.
If there is an attempt to use the 2014 findings I suspect there will be a repeat of the outrage shown a year ago as many on the counsel may remember.
But then again we are destined to make the same mistakes over and over again until we learn our lesson, so why would our local politicians be any different?
Might I remind council that the 2014 input and findings are what caused such an uproar, a demonstration, a march, signs everywhere, bad provincial press, and multiple night marathon counsel meetings containing angry residents.
People were angry with the bate-and-switch techniques used in the planning process and the general dishonesty by withholding information and attempts at spin...
It is this dishonesty displayed during the planning process and the fact that the GNAC had direct access to the planner and was influencing the outcome that further aggravated residents causing them to act.
The resulting bias made the 2014 report unreliable and suspect.
If there is an attempt to use the 2014 findings I suspect there will be a repeat of the outrage shown a year ago as many on the counsel may remember.
But then again we are destined to make the same mistakes over and over again until we learn our lesson, so why would our local politicians be any different?
Friday, March 27, 2015
Flooding in Langley City
WOW, that's a lot of rain coming down lately!
You know the developers haven't left many trees behind in Willoughby et all to slow the water down that is soaking us all from the sky. I wonder if this will cause flooding in Langley City and the low lying areas of Langley Township?
If so it could be costly and take much to initiate and manage the extraordinary measures at flood control as a result.
Would that be called negligence on the part of the TOL Planning department and the Developers who were in such a rush to tear up all the trees to slap together their versions of buildings?
There is no wonder why the city of Langley was so interested in the OCP fight a year ago. They knew they were going to have flood issues if a mass high density development happened in Brookswood.
It's going to be an interesting future in the two Langley's.
You know the developers haven't left many trees behind in Willoughby et all to slow the water down that is soaking us all from the sky. I wonder if this will cause flooding in Langley City and the low lying areas of Langley Township?
If so it could be costly and take much to initiate and manage the extraordinary measures at flood control as a result.
Would that be called negligence on the part of the TOL Planning department and the Developers who were in such a rush to tear up all the trees to slap together their versions of buildings?
There is no wonder why the city of Langley was so interested in the OCP fight a year ago. They knew they were going to have flood issues if a mass high density development happened in Brookswood.
It's going to be an interesting future in the two Langley's.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Good to see some months of discussion hapening.
Remember to act after its conclusion. Also remember
that not all criminals, homeless people or druggies want to be saved, so
you have to think about what do do with them. That is if you dive into
this thinking you are going to save them.
Langley City task forces will look at homelessness, crime issues
http://www.langleytimes.com/news/290578401.htmlWednesday, January 21, 2015
Langley transportation vote debate
http://www.cbc.ca/news/langley-transportation-vote-debate-1.2919578
Does Jack (who lives close to Abbostford) promise that after he helps raise transit taxes he wont go to Abbotsford to by goods and gas? Will he make use of the scores of buses that 'Link Transportation' service throughout Aldergrove, an area where Jack lives? I'm sure the business owners and my fellow Langley Citizens would agree that we aren't getting much for the tons of funds that we are throwing down the Translink well.
Personally I think TransLink is a bit of a scam - and a poorly run one at that.
See also a piece by Eric Woodward: http://www.langleycitizen.com/2015/01/09/120
Does Jack (who lives close to Abbostford) promise that after he helps raise transit taxes he wont go to Abbotsford to by goods and gas? Will he make use of the scores of buses that 'Link Transportation' service throughout Aldergrove, an area where Jack lives? I'm sure the business owners and my fellow Langley Citizens would agree that we aren't getting much for the tons of funds that we are throwing down the Translink well.
Personally I think TransLink is a bit of a scam - and a poorly run one at that.
See also a piece by Eric Woodward: http://www.langleycitizen.com/2015/01/09/120
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Some perspective on Brookswood development - Letter to the Editor
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
I did write: save Brookswood from becoming "a crowded urban wasteland of row housing and condos” and I'm glad that it's getting some attention and in fact prompted your thoughtful letter.
I thought of writing that line just as I headed south over the bridge at 208th and hwy 1. As I looked around what came to mind was a wasteland, a sterile, treeless and unimaginative cyst on the Langley landscape, brought about by those who worship a candy-coated international box style chosen for it's ability to shoehorn as many families into as small an area as possible thus maximize the money intake or in other words: 'Profit Enhancement.' It's obvious the developers are in control there while the planners flop around like so many stunned fish.
Our planning department could have prevented this but they let the developers have their way. Those developers promptly shunned thoughtful infrastructure in favour of profits - their ill conceived leavings to be mopped up by the taxpayers at a later time. You may not like my choice of words but they are fully informed from observation. I chose not to be blind and decided to protect the future of Brookswood.
People got upset in Brookswood for the developers, planners and township officials thought they could play us for fools. That they could just come in unopposed and 'set-up shop' like they have done everywhere else in the lower mainland. That a population of 42K, and the widening 40th avenue to 4 lanes and shoving it through Brookswood park could just be slid into the plans near the end of the planning process as long as they felt the breeze was blowing their way. That they could slap each other on their backs and revel in their good luck for they were on their way to more easy cash.
I agree with you, I would like to improve Brookswood while preserving and actually building upon the character and natural beauty of the area. But the developers and planners will have to be super careful and do everything properly. Even then developers have to be watched to ensure they stick to the plan and don't make backroom, under the table deals with the township as is their nature, and the township will have to be watched to make sure they are above board and don't feel that they are their own bosses, as is their nature here in Langley.
For as we have found out with developers and their township 'friends' throughout the lower mainland over the last few decades, trust (or lack of) is a serious issue and screwing the existing residents is part of their game.
Some perspective on Brookswood development
posted Jul 21, 2014 at 5:00 PM by Joel Nagtegaal - Langley
http://www.langleytimes.com/opinion/letters/268026121.html
I thought of writing that line just as I headed south over the bridge at 208th and hwy 1. As I looked around what came to mind was a wasteland, a sterile, treeless and unimaginative cyst on the Langley landscape, brought about by those who worship a candy-coated international box style chosen for it's ability to shoehorn as many families into as small an area as possible thus maximize the money intake or in other words: 'Profit Enhancement.' It's obvious the developers are in control there while the planners flop around like so many stunned fish.
Our planning department could have prevented this but they let the developers have their way. Those developers promptly shunned thoughtful infrastructure in favour of profits - their ill conceived leavings to be mopped up by the taxpayers at a later time. You may not like my choice of words but they are fully informed from observation. I chose not to be blind and decided to protect the future of Brookswood.
People got upset in Brookswood for the developers, planners and township officials thought they could play us for fools. That they could just come in unopposed and 'set-up shop' like they have done everywhere else in the lower mainland. That a population of 42K, and the widening 40th avenue to 4 lanes and shoving it through Brookswood park could just be slid into the plans near the end of the planning process as long as they felt the breeze was blowing their way. That they could slap each other on their backs and revel in their good luck for they were on their way to more easy cash.
I agree with you, I would like to improve Brookswood while preserving and actually building upon the character and natural beauty of the area. But the developers and planners will have to be super careful and do everything properly. Even then developers have to be watched to ensure they stick to the plan and don't make backroom, under the table deals with the township as is their nature, and the township will have to be watched to make sure they are above board and don't feel that they are their own bosses, as is their nature here in Langley.
For as we have found out with developers and their township 'friends' throughout the lower mainland over the last few decades, trust (or lack of) is a serious issue and screwing the existing residents is part of their game.
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